Xbox One Price: Microsoft Almost Nails an Apple Event

Today Microsoft announced the Xbox One, the new Xbox that will arrive later this year in living rooms across the world, but failed to announce the Xbox One price.

Microsoft executives took a page out of Apple’s playbook showing off the Xbox One hardware and game demos with great looking features show off on stage.

But despite everything Microsoft announced, the Xbox One price didn’t make it into the announcement at all. While Apple announces a release date and price at each event, by the end of the event it felt much more like a Samsung or HTC event where the Xbox One release date and Xbox One price were left as a major mystery.

The Xbox One price remains missing despite a very Apple-like event for the Xbox One reveal.

When Apple announced the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, we got a good look at what the device could do, how it looked and then we received a price and a release date. This presentation style and these key pieces of information quickly became the hallmark of an Apple event.

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At the Xbox One event today Microsoft did an amazing job of showcasing the Xbox One and showing off what it could do on stage. This included an amazing demo of the new Instant Switch and Kinect snap controls. As well as major partnerships with the NFL, Steven Spielberg and demos of EA games on the Xbox 360. We even got a look at the Call of Duty: Ghosts reveal trailer which shows off the graphics capabilities of the Xbox One.

For everything Microsoft did right, the company failed to announce the Xbox One price. This was not a surprise, as the company is likely waiting to see where the Xbox One cost to build lands and feeling out the market and competition.

Samsung failed to announce the Galaxy S4 price at its launch event, allowing carriers to offer the device at a plethora of price points. AT&T tested consumer demand for a $250 Galaxy S4 before circling back and offering the 16GB Galaxy S4 for $199 and the 32GB model for $250. Competing carriers are charging $250 for the 16GB model, but at this point it’s impossible for AT&T to raise the price.

Sony didn’t show off the looks of the PlayStation 4 or announce a PlayStation 4 price at the incredibly long event it held earlier this year. Both companies are taking the Android approach and keeping pricing a secret for now.

The Microsoft Xbox One price may remain a mystery until the PlayStation 4 price is announced so that Microsoft can undercut the competition. Both consoles will likely arrive in the fall, and if the Xbox One price is substantially lower it could give Microsoft an early lead in the next generation console battle. When the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 battled it out, the Xbox offered a $100 cheaper price.

One leak claims the Xbox One price will arrive at $499, with a second subscription based model that would require a two-year Xbox Live membership. The Xbox One price for the Live model would reportedly hit $299 with a $10 a month fee.

While Microsoft was close to pulling off an Apple-inspired event with the Xbox reveal, It’s clear consumers want to know how much the Xbox One will cost. Here are just a few consumer reactions.

Definitely not putting down a deposit the the Xbox One until I know the full price.

it looks ugly in a backward kind of way. the old Nintendo comes to mind. The whole cloud angle is getting boring. Considering companies like app;le and Microsoft are continuously being hacked and details & data being stolen (admitted or not) isn’t a win card. But having said that I am positive they are aware they have alienated many individuals.

I don’t know, I think the only people they really alienated were people who want something new. I would assume the average Xbox loyalist is okay with another 8 years of mediocre shooters and yearly sports game updates. People who wanted more than that were already using PC or PS3. This focus towards multimedia instead of games is a non-starter. Sure, they finally got Blu-Ray, but Sony already has headstart in that. So, things won’t change terribly much this year, except the Wii U’s flop will leave some market share to mop up — who will get most of that; Xbox or Playstation? That’s hard to predict, because the Nintendo gamer wasn’t like the Sony or Microsoft gamer. If I had to guess, I’d say these gamers will shift towards the Playstation, because it’s the next oldest brand after Nintendo.

I’m thinking there will be two Xbox one on launch day. The full Xbox one experience we all saw today for 600. And a second one with a smaller hard drive and no kinetic for 400 being meant for someone who just wants to play games.

they would have to undercut them lot more then $50 dollars. I personally thing ps4 got it this time but all depends on what they charge for it and the online servers. Xbox has just given us more home entertainment. Were ps4 is intergrated livestream, being able take over some 1 game for them to help out and home entertainment.

The most biased written microsoft leaning article yet. Everywhere else, the gaming press has nothing but scorn for the event. Here, the author writes, “At the Xbox One event today Microsoft did an amazing job of showcasing the Xbox One and showing off what it could do on stage. This included an amazing demo of the new Instant Switch and Kinect snap controls. As well as major partnerships with the NFL, Steven Spielberg and demos of EA games on the Xbox 360. We even got a look at the Call of Duty: Ghosts reveal trailer which shows off the graphics capabilities of the Xbox One.”

I just want to cringe at that statement. Either a case of fanatical fanboism or a case of biased article writing.

Is this not just stating facts of the launch with an added “amazing” in sentence? Didn’t know that using words like “excellent” and “amazing” made a person biased… I want to cringe at your negativity towards writing style when this is an article about a product, no one is going to make a next generation console sound bad in an article, it’s all new stuff. Stop commenting on writing and comment on the product at hand.